208 THE NIGHTINGALE. 



offered them without exciting the least attention ; but scratch 

 or dig the earth, and they approach directly, because instinct 

 or experience tells them that they shall there find insects, 

 which they are very fond of. Many other species of this group 

 do the same thing ; for instance, the blackcap and the redbreast, 

 without its having been mentioned. These birds do not, how- 

 ever, deserve so much of our attention as the nightingale. 



HABITATION. When wild, nightingales are found throughout Europe, as 

 far as the north of England and the middle of Sweden : in all Asia, as far 

 as the temperate regions of Siberia ; and in Africa on the banks of the 

 Nile. They every where choose for their residence places which are shady, 

 cool, but not cold, such as woods, thickets, and even mere hedges in the 

 fields. They do not go beyond the skirts of the forests on high chains of 

 mountains, and never stop on elevations where the air is too keen. Groves, 

 thick brambles, tufted bushes near fields and meadows, are their favourite 

 abodes. They also like gardens planted with untrimmed elm-hedges, 

 which are consequently thick and bushy down to the ground. It is not 

 true that they like watery situations, and if they frequent them it is not for 

 the water, but because they generally produce thick tufted bushes. It 

 must also be owned that their favourite food is more constantly abundant in 

 such places, and if the cold destroys the insects elsewhere, plenty may 

 always be found in them. It is not however the less certain that the water 

 is not the attraction, or all would repair to its vicinity, which experience 

 contradicts. The fact is, that each nightingale generally establishes himself 

 in the place which gave him birth, whether near the water or not, whether 

 in an orchard or on a mountain ; and when once he has fixed on a spot, he 

 returns to it every year, unless the place has lost its charm or advantage. 

 If the wood for instance has been cut down, or has lost the thick shade, 

 which was its chief merit, in such circumstances he seeks in the neighbour- 

 hood another spot more to his liking. But if, in a considerable circuit 

 where no change has taken place, a nightingale is seen to establish himself 

 in a spot which was unoccupied the preceding year, it may be concluded 

 that it is a young bird which was born in the vicinity. Convenient places 

 are so much valued, that if the possessors die or are caught, new comers 

 seize upon them immediately ; so that the bird which we hear to-day, is 

 very possibly not the same which sang yesterday in the same place. Many 

 other causes may also concur in producing this change of inhabitants, which 

 an ear well versed in the language of these birds will always discover. 



It may, perhaps, be asked why, in many places which appear so well 

 adapted to attract nightingales, none are found *. I reply that these spots 

 may be concealed by woods or mountains, and not lie perceived by the 

 nightingales in their journeys, or they may be quite out of their route, for 

 they have a regular one which they never quit, because, their progress being 



* There are some countries which appear not adapted for nightingales, and in 

 which they never stop, as in France, in Le Bugey, as high as Nantua, a part of Hol- 

 land, North Wales, the north of England, excepting the county of York, and all Scot- 

 land and Ireland. 



